Jon Spencer's Ohio State-Penn State report card

Nov. 21, 2011

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OFFENSIVE LINE

The protection of Braxton Miller was about as bad as it’s been all season and obviously played a big part on the killer intentional grounding flag at the end. Some credit goes to Penn State’s top-shelf defense, but even having right tackle J.B. Shugarts back from a knee injury didn’t help. Shugarts’ usual false-start was another killer, coming on fourth-and-5 from the PS 36 with 2:14 left. Mike Brewster sabotaged OSU’s opening drive with yet another bad snap out of shotgun formation. There were at least three others. There’s always next year, except the three supposedly best linemen are seniors.

GRADE: D

RUNNING GAME

Braxton Miller’s 24-yard TD run was vintage Miller, as he wended his way through traffic and broke clear to the outside. He had a carbon copy run leading to OSU’s second touchdown. If only the Wildcat plays by Carlos Hyde (twice) and Jordan Hall (fumbled exchange with “Boom” Herron) had worked as well. A goal line stand was wasted when Hyde fumbled the ball right back to the Lions, preserving Penn State’s lead.

GRADE: C

PASSING GAME

The absolute last thing OSU could afford on its last-ditch drive was what it got, an intentional grounding flag on Braxton Miller. Corey “Philly” Brown dropped a bomb early in the fourth quarter that could have given the Buckeyes the lead. But, then, we’ve seen that from him before. DeVier Posey wasted no time making his presence felt, catching the first pass thrown to him for 39 yards on OSU’s opening drive. He also made an acrobatic catch, tight-roping the sideline to set up the Buckeyes’ first TD. We saw Jordan Hall running the wheel route, if memory serves, for the first time this season. It took a great defensive play to break up a potential long-gainer, begging the question: Where’s that route been all year? TE Jake Stoneburner returned from the dead, making his first catch in a month – a 7-yard TD.

GRADE: D plus

DEFENSIVE LINE

The linebackers were taking a lot of heat on the message boards during the game, but the front four certainly didn’t do much to slow Penn State’s running attack either. The lack of pass rush, an Achilles heel all season, made it easy for QB Matt McGloin to avoid his two pick-6s last year. One reason OSU doesn’t have more takeaways this season is because opposing QBs haven’t been rattled nearly enough. The highlight of the game for the defense was its goal line stand in the third quarter. We may look back on that as OSU’s last stand, period.

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GRADE: C minus

LINEBACKERS

With Andrew Sweat sitting this one out (concussion), weakening an already beleaguered linebacker crew, Stephfon Green went 39 yards untouched up the middle on Penn State’s first series. In the first half, 119 of Penn State’s 188 rushing yards came on three plays – 42, 39 and 38 yards. Five-star recruit Curtis Grant has been slow to adjust to the college game, but, seriously, what would it hurt throwing him out there at this point? Ryan Shazier provided a spark in his starting debut with a team-high 15 tackles, but the huge running seams for Penn State would seem to indicate he made typical rookie mistakes as well. Storm Klein had a career-high nine tackles and was at his best on the goal-line stand.

GRADE: C

SECONDARY

No pick-6s by the Buckeyes, who had eight over the last decade against Penn State. But turnovers haven’t been a strong suit of this defense. (What has?) Orhian Johnson did have an interception late in the first half that OSU converted into a touchdown. On Saturday’s first play from scrimmage, cornerback Travis Howard was flagged for pass interference. He also got beat on a reception as the Lions needed less than three minutes to score a TD off the opening kickoff. This is the same Travis Howard supposedly thinking about turning pro after the season.

GRADE: B

SPECIAL TEAMS

There were no blocked PATs this week, but that was about the extent of the good news. Nothing special to report here. This team could always use some special teams fireworks to prop it up, but didn’t get it or big plays on defense. What really hurt was getting pinned inside the 20 on three punts, something Ben Buchanan has specialized in all season.

GRADE: C

COACHING

Jim Bollman’s nutty decision to run a never-seen handoff out of the Wildcat -- near his own goal line -- resulted in a fumbled exchange between Jordan Hall and “Boom” Herron that could have been the knockout punch for Penn State if not for a tremendous goal line stand by the Buckeyes. Bollman’s dumb move was trumped by Tom Bradley’s decision not to kick a chip-shot field goal there, which would have given the Lions a two-score lead. For the third straight week the Buckeyes fell in a 10-0 hole and for the second straight week they couldn’t get over the hump. The only thing balanced about OSU’s attack is that the offense and defense – gouged by three big running plays in the first half -- should share the blame equally.